


A Never-Ending Afterglow

by InsertSthMeaningful



Category: X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Genderqueer Rachel Summers, Hangover, Krakoan Resurrection, Marauders #12 (2019), Morning After, Multi, Polyamory, Post-Canon, Sapphics on Krakoa, Trans Kate Pryde
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:42:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26928331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsertSthMeaningful/pseuds/InsertSthMeaningful
Summary: Kate regrets celebrating her return from the dead so thoroughly the night before. Luckily, Rachel is there to soothe over any irritations and self-doubts.
Relationships: Kitty Pryde/Illyana Rasputin/Rachel Summers
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6
Collections: X-Salon Trans Appreciation Week





	A Never-Ending Afterglow

**Author's Note:**

> A small something for the X-Salon's last free day of Trans Appreciation Week.

Kate Pryde has a massive hangover.

“Urgh. I’m _never_ drinking Tempus’ shoddy whiskey again.”

There’s a rustle from under the sheets to her left, and a very dishevelled Rachel Grey-Summers emerges from the sea of crimson linen like some kind of mystical, long-forgotten creature. Faer hair, cropped short like the spikes on a hedgehog (a very ginger hedgehog), sticks out in all possible and impossible directions.

“You say that now,” Rachel rasps, voice all rough and painfully dry (probably from sucking Kate off for what feels like a dozen times after they tumbled into bed), “but just you wait until tomorrow evening – you still haven’t been to the Green Lagoon, have you?”

“That tiki bar thingy?” A stray ray of sunlight sidles through the burgundy curtains of her bedroom, and Kate groans in dismay. “Aw, shit. Have you seen my coat? Or my gaffe- and my Star of David?”

The look Rachel sends her is beyond incredulous. “What, have _you_ seen my jacket or binder? Just because I could chrono-skim for your possessions doesn’t mean I have to.”

Right. Kate’s not the only one who drank too much of that whisky.

“Gosh, I’m so sorry,” she mutters and grapples clumsily for Rachel’s hand. “I’m not usually that cranky, I swear.”

Rachel’s laughter must sound through the whole Red Keep, and faer emerald eyes – such a pretty contrast against the crimson linen sheets, especially when Rachel’s pinned under Kate, moaning and writhing in the dimming light of dusk – sparkle when fae sits up to lean over Kate’s idle form.

“I know. Remember, it’s not the first time we’ve done that, princess.” Then, Rachel grins, full of half-veiled mischief. “Or should I say _Queen_?”

Even as she tuts, Kate can’t clamp down on the giddy smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, and when she tries to haul herself up into a sitting position this time, her poor head makes less of a clatter. Still, her hands come away sticky and gross upon raking her fingers through her hair.

“It’s true, and you should say it. But-” Scrunching up her nose, she takes a strand of her drooping ebony locks between her forefinger and thumb and thrusts it into Rachel’s general direction- “ _what the fuck happened last night_?”

The telepath’s smirk remains.

“Did we-” Kate squints, desperately gripping at the slivers of memory swirling round and round in the general chaos of her recollection. “Did we… go skinny-dipping?”

“Yep.” Rachel pops the p, and it makes the freckles on faer nose quiver, and there’s something else Kate should remember-

“Oh. Aw man. I didn’t take a _shower_ in that whisky, did I?”

Rachel’s chortling snigger is answer enough, and Kate groans again, _louder_ this time, and if Rachel was anyone but Rachel – amazing, thrilling, understanding-without-judging Rachel – Kate would phase through the bed and the floorboards and probably the whole of Krakoa’s soil right then and there with shame.

As it is, she’s comfortable enough to just blush redder than her whole interior design.

“At least Illyana didn’t see that, did she?”

“Girl - _Illy was the one who helped you pour that whisky over you_.”

Kate gapes, horrified, and that’s all it takes for Rachel to explode into shameless laughter. It looks almost painful – tears streaming from faer eyes, hands cramped over faer stomach as fae curls up from the intensity of faer trembling gasps and snorts – but honestly, Kate thinks fae deserves it.

“Where’s ‘Yana gone off to, anyway?” she asks to cover up her embarrassment, finally feeling steady enough to fold back the bedsheets entirely and get up. The floor beneath her feet is cool but quickly warms to her touch when Krakoa registers she’s awake and walking around and definitely _not_ in the mood for cold feet.

“Heh, getting croissants and my favourite bagels from that patisserie in Montmartre I think,” Rachel wheezes, still in vain trying to stifle faer amusement. Lounging on the bed, faer scrunched-up eyes track Kate’s movements as she bends to gather both their clothes strew everywhere – quite literally, and Kate can’t help but wonder at how Rachel’s pants might have found their way wound around the chandelier’s brass arms.

Then, she goes to open the curtains, throws the heavy fabric wide open, and the sunset over Hellfire Bay floods her pirate’s nest with a golden glow neither of them could have ever imagined waking up to.

“Paradise,” she whispers into the cool sea breeze blowing in through the cracked window, and the telepath on her bed nods, a cloud of happiness radiating from faer like a supernova.

“Paradise,” fae agrees. “Damn, I still remember walking through that gate for the very first time. Felt like, y’know, like we finally made it. All that fighting, all that struggle and the tears – and it paid off!”

“Kurt says it reminds him of the Holy Land.” Kate perches on the windowsill, just so covering her crotch with the bundle of clothes she’s holding – there won’t be anyone around that time of the day to sneak a peek at her sun-bathed breasts, and even if, there’s not much to see anyway. Her newly tattooed knuckles are itching. “I’m not sure though. I still have to actually get through a gate, and then that whole resurrection thing…”

She turns back around to find Rachel staring straight at her, every trace of laughter gone from faer eyes.

“Am I really me?” she asks after what seems like an eternity of holding her breath, drowning in those staggeringly uncertain feelings she can’t quite explain. “I know this is my body, and I’ve long ago come to terms with how it looks and wouldn’t want The Five to change a thing – well, most of the time anyway. But the essence of me… Can a soul really be brought back from death?”

Suddenly sobered, Rachel sits up as well and reaches for faer panties and binder which have miraculously appeared between a fold of the bedsheets.

“I think you’re as much you as you could possibly be,” fae says, voice low and honest. “When I look into your mind, I feel _you_. To me, as soon as a person has memories, they’re made an individual, like, with a soul that’s been through things, shaped by them – and _you_ have plenty of memories.”

It takes Kate a moment to wrap her head around that, and by the time she looks up again, Rachel has shrugged faer X-Factor uniform on and is telekinetically combing faer hair into submission.

“Thank you,” she says, “honestly, thank you. It all just feels…”

“Too good to be true? Like a never-ending afterglow?” Rachel grins at faer reflection before fae turns and strides across the room to grasp Kate’s face in faer hands and press a big, sloppy kiss onto her lips. “Believe me, I know the feeling. Now, what do you think we go look for Illy and get our breakfast?” Then, fae glances down tellingly. “After you’ve put on some clothes perhaps. As much as I don’t mind you flaunting your bodily virtues-”

“Oh, just shut up and kiss me,” Kate growls and grabs Rachel by faer collar, and the telepath can do nothing but laugh and comply when fae is walked backwards until faer knees hit the bedframe and they both topple over onto the mussed crimson sheets, giggling so hard it makes their tummies hurt.

Kate is half-way through giving Rachel faer second orgasm when Illyana teleports in on them, drops the sweet-smelling paper bag she’s holding by her feet with an excited squeal, declares that “Breakfast is postponed, it’s now brunch!” and joins them.

It’s safe to say they don’t make it out of bed for the rest of the day.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and especially comments are very welcome!


End file.
